The Contact Center Blog

The 3 Minute Rule

Sometimes the most brilliant, transformative ideas are the simplest. Take, for example, the ‘Three-Minute Rule’ that Anthony Tjan at the Harvard Business Review talks about: engage customers to find out their actions 3 minutes before and 3 minutes after they use your product or service. The three-minute rule is a great way to find out what you can do to improve your customer service, and in the contact center world, this is crucial for growth and sustainability.

Using Live Chat, we can talk to our customers while they are in the midst of product or service usage. We can find out what brought them to a particular site, or what drove them away from it. As Tjan points out,

The three-minute rule reminds us that rearranging the context of a shopping experience to better meet customer patterns can be extremely effective. Customers seek solutions, but it is likely that your offering is only part of one. The three-minute rule is a forcing mechanism to see the bigger picture and adjacent opportunities.

There are opportunities on both sides here - For the customer, a better experience and for your business, a better chance at a sale. For example, if your customer is having trouble finding something on your website and a contact center agent manages to engage them in a live chat, they should ask the customer what made it so hard for them to find that product in those minutes before help arrived. Then, the agent should find out what their next step will be with the desired response being that they will finalize the sale and checkout online. It is the hope that this attention to detail and level of customer care will make the customer realize just how worth it the business is to invest in.

So, taking a moment to chat with customers and finding out how to make their experience a more satisfactory one all-around will benefit everyone in the long run and make for a much more satisfactory experience.

Bricks and Mortar Still a Strategic Option?

Apparently Microsoft will opening up a couple of retail stores in Arizona and California this fall, which will be their first ones. Their corporate communications director stated in an article: "Microsoft's stores are a way for the company to introduce consumers to its products in person, but they are not meant as a product showcase or a replacement for big electronics stores ... However, Microsoft does want the stores to turn a profit".

It'll be interesting to see how this turns out, especially considering economic timing. Dell's model of having kiosks seems to be successful in communicating it's products in person with distribution still remaining in tact. On the other hand, the obvious trend of consumer shopping and researching online still makes me think about the move to bricks and mortar. 

Time will tell.

"Cloud" Telephony

I recently came across The IVR Blog by Angel.com, and was drawn to an entry refering to the term "Cloud Telephony". David points out"cloud" meaning, imagery and term being used more frequently. I personally haven't heard the term as much or don't recall seeing many incorporate it into certain imagery (Maybe I have, but just don't notice it). I probably see it more in diagrams and presentations.

Though I'm not familiar with it, I like the concept and agree with David's definition of it:

The notion that cloud represents is, to boil it down as I see it, the ability to access any solution you want, from any where you want, at any time you want — not being tied to hardware or installed software somewhere — and the ability to easily intermingle different types of solutions so everything works in conjunction.

He also points out the increased use of this in the telephony space. I think this holds true with not only this space, but in all spaces as well. To me, products or services of any kind need to have theflexibility to be adaptable and "do it all" with convenience. It reflect today's ssociety demands of wanting and needing things on demand, whatever it may be.

When speaking about "clouds" I immediately think of social media and technology. Think about devices, programs, and applications that are designed to connect together - they all fit somewhere within this theoretical "cloud".

Mobile Live Chat?

We're already used to seeing this - business workers, teenagers, and college students alike fiddling away with their mobile phones checking emails, playing games, text messaging, or just acting like they're busy! I see this everywhere too, on the the streets, public transit, airports, malls, etc. I'm guilty of most of these things.

Earlier this week, I saw the release of the new iPhone 3GS. There are so many applications the phone already has on top of some of the new features. You can do anything and practically everything on it. For Blackberry users, they can "pin" each other for free. These smart phones save people time, and almost become a remote for everything they need.

In North America, we're finally starting to see some of these 3G/4G technologies in action. Social media applications are compatible with mobiles. As we move closer to this being the norm, is it a far stretch to see a successful Live Chat application or gateway users can access on their phones? People already try to maximize their time while traveling, being able to communicate with stores, banks, companies, etc. on the go would definitely make things more convenient. At the same time, you do it without disturbing those around you.

I personally can see it easily. Next time you're on a train, airplane or even mall - look around and see how many people are casually fumbling around with their mobiles. Despite this, the obvious obstacle will always be consumer adoption. Theoretically though, it makes sense. Maybe a new feature for the next iPhone - you never know. 

Microsoft Launches New Search Engine BING

As th search engine war continues between Microsoft and Google, Microsoft officially lanched its new search engine name, Bing, this week.

I doubt this will dominate Google, however, the new brand will likely be more effective than the previous "Live Search" brand used by Microsoft. Searchengineland.com reports, "The new name, along with $80 million in marketing that Microsoft is unleashing, will undoubtedly attract brand new visitors to Microsoft’s search engine plus get some who had previously given up on Live Search to take another look. What they’ll find is a search engine with solid relevancy plus some new features that might hook a few of them into staying."

I recommend giving Bing a try, the new layout is quite user friendly with the left hand navigation tools used effectively. The ad space is also quite clean on the right hand margin.

We will see how this change affects the potential Yahoo-Microsoft merger from 2008!

Web 3.0 - The Way Of The Future For Online Customer Engagement?

I spoke with Darius Lahoutifard today, the CEO of Altadyn. His company makes 3DXPlorer, an application that lets companies deploy ‘out of the box’ virtual worlds. 3DXPlorer  can be used for such things as virtual meetings, but what interested me the most is how the technology can be applied to online customer engagement. From the Altadyn/3DXPlorer  website:

Web 3.0 = web3D

Web 3.0, the third generation of the Web built upon tools like the 3DXplorer platform, enables corporations to finally bridge this gap, leveraging immersive 3D to directly engage prospects and customers in a personal and entertaining environment. Rather than relying on limited tools to track anonymous web visitors, for the first time, Web 3.0 and 3DXplorer make immersive 3D available to every company. Web 3.0 extends the web to a personal, interactive environment, where individuals, both end-users and consumers and corporate representatives, can express themselves in a manner similar to the way they do in everyday life when conducting a face-to-face meeting, attending a seminar or walking into a store.

You can demo the 3DXPlorer technology here.

Google Latitude- New Mobile Phone Based Social Network

I installed Google Latitude today on my BlackBerry. This is a very impressive social networking application that integrates with Google Maps and lets you see the location of your friends and interact with them. Latitude looks to be a building block for more targeted location based mobile advertising. From MediaPost.com:

 “And while the service clearly aims to focus on social networking--connecting friends and family by sharing their whereabouts--the application could easily adopt mobile marketing applications that target users with special deals and ads at specific locations such as in front of Starbucks or McDonald's as they drive or walk down the street.”

I can definitely see a role for call centers to play with this new type of advertising. Anyone clicking on a mobile ad would clearly be a demographic a business would want to target and give the most attention possible.  A great feature would be to have a call center live chat agent discuss  promotions a store was having, and give a potential customer a call to action like an additional 10% off item x if they made their purchase within a certain time frame.

Read more here:  http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=99727

M-Commerce Support?

M-Commerce, or mobile commerce, is probably a term many of us hear floating around, but may not witness or experience first hand in North America. It's capabilities are tremendous, allowing people to do everything with their cellular phones and PDAs.

This includes shopping, allowing them to buy things online and even use as a bar-code scanner to make physical purchases, almost acting like a credit card! The technology and commerce structure is common in some areas of Asia and Europe, and I think once it hits the mainstream in North America - a new need and demand for support will be needed. This can potentially be another opportunity or even channel for contact centers to pursue some time in the future.

I know it sounds far fetched right now, but you never know ... 

Online Marketing Strategy

When planning to optimize a website, common practices and processes include SEO, web analytics, user persona testing, etc. Generally, people do whatever they can to make the "user experience" the best it can be (which is only one of the main goals).

Analyzing and testing provides the information needed to make site adjustments. These seem to be some of the typical areas for website strategy. One area that I think should be highlighted in this, referring to strategies and constantly improving user experience - is customer service. Yes - many already do this, but some do it only through providing the most accurate information and links to FAQ's. I'm speaking more about servicing specific inquiries and requests. Things that take too much time and effort to locate. It's the convenience to get direct assistance.

In my opinion, this is where contact centers provide value in working with online retailers or general information websites. The obvious advantage that all contact centers talk about is a given: increased sales conversions, customer satisfaction, etc.

The idea of customer service as part of an online marketing strategy toolbox is what I'm trying to get at. As a contact center, this is an angle we can really take advantage of when illustrating our value and importance. As an online retailer or website creator, this is something to consider and implement.

Web 2.0 - Does It Affect Contact Centers?

The concept of Web 2.0 has been floating around for a few years now, but recently I've been hearing and seeing it more often. It seems to be a focus of many websites, where there are more interactive and intuitive applications for users.

In today's Web 2.0 world, information is more dynamic, easily being created and shared. This Blog is an example, allowing me to express my opinions. If you're a feed subscriber, you've been notified the moment this post was published. The point is that websites are more interactive and have information that more effectively caters to visitors, allowing them to better personalized experiences.

I just came back from a tradeshow, IRCE, where they had some speakers and sessions surrounding Web 2.0. A large majority of the attendees were online retailers.

How do you think Web 2.0 affects or relates to contact centers?

To start off, in my short opinion I feel the increase in interactivity for website visitors increases the expectations for finding information and answers almost instantaneously. As a result, services such as Live Chat and effective Email Response fits into this structure. Customer support via telephone is also still important, but service levels in this case need to be as dynamic as the websites. What do the rest of you think?

- JU